Making Power Moves in Chicago

Written by: Janica Johnson, Green For All Ambassador

When I was presented with the opportunity to attend the Energy Action Coalition’s Power Vote training in Chicago to rally around environmental issues while connecting them to one of the most important presidential elections in our nation’s history, of course I couldn't turn it down. From August 20-24, together with my fellow Green For All Ambassadors, Courtney Strickland of ECSU and Korbin Miles of FAMU, I had the pleasure to participate in the Power Vote organizing training, designed to prepare us to mobilize our peers to build momentum for local clean energy solutions and demand that both candidates address the climate crisis, instead of promoting dirty and dangerous energy like coal, gas, oil and nuclear.

During the first day of the training, we learned about the purpose of the Power Vote campaign and how to build a base and create awareness through social media and days of action. The following day, the training focused on more technical aspects of organizing like strategic planning, managing volunteers and data management. On the third day, we joined a rally outside the headquarters of Obama for America to kick off the Power Vote campaign with a message for candidates across the country: We must break the silence on climate change. This training also gave us the opportunity to see how local Chicago groups like Little Village Environmental Justice Organization are working to transition their communities away from dirty energy by replacing two old and dirty coal plants with clean energy and green jobs—providing me with real-life examples of how I can make changes in my community as well

Big polluters like the billionaire Koch Brothers are spending over $1 billion dollars to try to derail our progress and hijack this election and our democracy. Young people like myself from all over the country are working to solve the climate crisis, and bring in a clean energy economy by serving as leaders on our campuses and in our communities.

The Power Vote training provided tools to help us in our fight to make leaders take action on climate change. I left feeling re-energized and ready to change the world. You can join the fight, too! Find out more about Power Vote here: http://www.powervote.org/breakthesilence